Brussels, 01/08/2006 (Agence Europe) - Over the last eighteen months, Romania has achieved outstanding results and Europe is closely following its strong commitment, Commissioner Franco Frattini said on Monday during a two-day visit to Bucharest (see related article on his visit to Sofia). Mr Frattini said he hoped the advice of his experts, together with the efforts of all the Romanian authorities would allow Romania to join the EU in 2007. While there were still shortcomings in the justice system and persistent problems of corruption, “I must recognise that substantial progress was made over the last year and a half,” he said, and he considered that there were still efforts required until and beyond accession in key areas such as border management (the integrated border management system is due to be operational by 2009), and combating organised crime and money laundering. The “EU's attention and monitoring process” will remain focused on the fight against corruption and the concrete application of justice reform by the court system, he said. He went on, “The Action Plan that the Romanian Government adopted in early June in order to address (these) concerns has all my support. This is actually why I am coming to Romania now, to encourage its government, its parliament and all its citizens to pursue ongoing reforms so that the Action Plan can be implemented by September 2006”. In his view, the fight against corruption, including high level corruption, has continued to generate very positive results. However, recent problems in adopting a number of laws (law on political party financing, and the amendment to the penal procedures code) have confirmed that it was “still too early to say that the situation is irreversible,” he warned.